Best Practices: Western European Government Sector IT Spending Forecast, 2011–2015

During the past 15 years, in addition to the extensive use of ICT to underpin back-office systems, governments in Western Europe have used ICT to support egovernment initiatives designed to provide better public services to citizens and businesses. Effective egovernment involves redesigned organizations and processes so that public services are delivered more efficiently. The goal is for citizens, enterprises, and organizations to conduct their business with government more easily, more quickly, and at lower cost. Changes in technology have supported increased flexibility in how and when services are delivered, and there has been an increase in the quantity and sophistication of government sites. There has been an underlying belief that increased use of ICT would satisfy the need for a radical transformation of government and the services it offers, but in many respects egovernment services remain informational and only provide for limited interaction.

Jan Duffy, EMEA research director, IDC Government Insights, said: "The future path is rocky. The big 5 Western European economies are expected to struggle to regain a positive economic state. Saddled with the need to shore up the eurozone while dealing with internal financial challenges, even the more robust big 5 economies will have difficulty returning to strong economic growth. Public spending could remain depressed through the entire forecast period, although service demands will require governments to rethink the way they are delivered. This could have a positive effect on the demand for IT, but financial pressures will constrain the budgets and consequently the amount being spent will not increase."